


Tidal Edge

by Aithilin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mer!Noctis, Merfolk AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 14:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15753777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Noctis has a habit of getting himself trapped in the tide pools. A short.





	Tidal Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted over at my Tumblr

“You need a better story than that.”

There was a tidepool near the Ulric home that had proved a valuable hunting ground for years. Exposed only during the unusually low tides, the little outcrops and sanctuaries for sea life had flourished for generations of Ulric fishermen scavenging the hazardous outcrops of the shore and tidal bed. The sharp stones of the shore cut deep when an inexperienced wanderer made their way out to the beaches, and Nyx had barely escaped without infection plenty of times. 

The pools with their unforgiving barrier also had the tendency of snatching up the odd, occasionally curious creature. Letting the ocean life patiently wait for the tide to return. 

Noctis had never been very patient at waiting. Or good at avoiding the rocky Galahd shores. 

“What’s wrong with the truth, little star?”

Nyx sat at the edge of the deeper pool, careful in ways Noctis was not. When they were younger, Noctis would throw the starfish trapped with him as far as he could towards the ocean waiting for his return with the tide. Now, he simply shifted them out of the way as he lounged half-submerged in the warming water. 

“It’s boring,” Noctis’ long tail splashed in the waters, dousing the rocks around the pool in one of his lazy stretches. Nyx had found him napping again, on his walk to check the shoreline and his own traps. “You could have at least said you were bitten by a shark.”

There was a scar on Nyx’s leg, still fresh and angry and red. It curled from ankle to knee on a rough arc across his muscle. And for now, it was the object of Noctis’ fascination. The mer’s human hands traced the mark— only now uncovered from it’s bandages, after a week of Nyx limping everywhere with the carved crutch that had become a staple of the Ulric home— and a fanged smile beamed up at him as his mischievous companion let his touch wander now that he was satisfied that the wound wasn’t fresh. 

“What about this looks like a shark bite?”

“Coral then. You were swimming and scratched on the coral.”

“Unlike you, Noct, I don’t take naps in the reef;” Nyx punctuated his point by prodding with his food at the creature’s own mismatched scars— the numerous nicks and cuts of ocean life, with only a single ancient scar standing out and not caused by any coral or creature native to the warm Galahdian waters or the barren Lucian shores. “And no one would believe me.”

“But a fishing accident?”

“You’re a fishing accident.”

Noctis laughed before he released his hold on Nyx’s leg, careful kisses pressed along the angry mark as if to soothe it. Nyx didn’t move once Noctis let him go, settled now on the edge of the pool and watching the slow return of the tide. 

The shore was a hazardous place. One that had trapped plenty of sea creatures and humans alike. There were foolhardy tourists from the other islands who wandered too far, and too deep, and forgot that the tide could return in a rush to cover the bridges back to safety. And there were creatures, like Noctis, waiting in the waters for that to happen. Nyx could see them in the distance, waiting for the tide to return their prince to safety. 

“I should visit your house soon,” Noctis said, arms folded on one of the barrier stones keeping him in the pool. 

“I have the chair for you still, and your crutch.”

“I suspect you used the crutch when you lost that fight with the fishing hook.”

“It wasn’t a fight and I didn’t lose.”

“See?” Noctis’ tail curled like a cat’s, rolling the calm water with in and scattering the fish and shells trapped with him. “You need a better story.”

“Fine, I was bitten by one of you.”

“Not believable,” Noctis offered up another grin, sharp and edged and humour shining in his eyes; “no one would bite you but me.”


End file.
